Introduction. An investigation of the antioxidant properties of the candy caramel samples based on the sugar
replacers of maltitol and isomaltol, enriched with ascorbic acid and biologically active substances of water extracts of dried leaves of Menthae Piperitae and flowers of Matricariae chamomilla L. was carried out.
Materials and methods. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total content of polyphenolic compounds (TPC) of candy caramel samples were determined by galvanostatic coulometric titration with electrogenated bromine and by spectrophotometry using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. The results were expressed as milligrams of gallic (GAE) or ascorbic (AAE) acids per gram of the sample (SW). The amount of ascorbic acid in the final product was determined by galvanostatic coulometry with electrogenerated iodine.
Results and discussion. The total antioxidant capacity of the aqueous extracts of of Menthae piperitae and flowers of Matricariae chamomilla L. was 40.0 and 23.3 mg of GAE / g SW, respectively, and the total content of polyphenols was 54.5 and 17.1 GAE / g SW. It is shown that samples of candy caramel based on sugar
substitutes with the addition of plant extracts contain from 48 to 66% of the initial mass of ascorbic acid.
Based on the experimental data of the caramel samples with the variation of the recipe ingredients, the correct values of the total polyphenol content for the two candy caramel samples in the presence of interfering compounds were determined that are 408 mg GAE/100 g of the sample for caramel based on maltitol and Matricariae chamomilla L. extract and 222 mg GAE/100 g sample for caramel based on isomaltol and Menthae piperitae extract. A positive correlation between the values of the total antioxidant capacity of TAC and the total content of polyphenols TPC for the samples was obtained.
Conclusions. The obtained results indicate the prospects of technologies for enriching the candy caramel on sugar replacers with natural biologically active substances with antioxidant properties for the production of diet-functional food systems.